“I don’t think there’s ever been a human being put down on this earth afflicted by a temperament as shy and reclusive as mine. A shyness pushed to the point of suffering by a nervousness nothing could overcome. There’s nothing more marvelous, nothing’s ever happened that’s more singular that I, among all the women in the world, find myself so to speak engulfed by the stormy existence that has been my lot since 1868.”

—My Orphanage, 1877

“Look at Sarah Bernhardt—does she have my beauty, my voice, my worth, etc.? So from where does she get her fortune? Fame!”

—Georgina to her mother, 1877

“Quand on tombe, on tombe jamais bien.”

—Dumas fils